Charlotte "Old Love" Sherwood

Charlotte Emily Sherwood was born on 23^rd June 1880 at 3 Medland Street, Ratcliff. Records show that this address was a common lodging house which suggests that her family were living in poverty. Charlotte was the seconds daughter of William and Kate Sherwood and shortly after her birth, the family moved to 1 The Orchard. Baby Charlotte lived there with her parents and her older siblings Kate and William. During the following year, the census describes the family living at the same address. Her father was working as a labourer and her sister Kate was attending school.

Ratcliff was a riverside suburb situated between Limehouse Basin (formally Regents Canal Dock) and Shadwell. The area was a terrible slum with squalid and overcrowded dwellings. Ratcliff was renowned for drunkenness, vice, opium dens and poverty. Whilst the main roads like Broad Street (now part of The Highway) and Butcher Row had improved since her father’s and grandfather’s day, the warren of side streets and alleyways were still dangerous and unhealthy places. 10 London Street, where they lived, was such a place. The street ran south from Commercial Road towards the river Thames just to the west of Limehouse Basin.

The quality of the housing took its toll on the health of the family. Charlotte’s baby sister, Martha was born on 16^th May 1883 and was baptised at the St James’s on 1^st June but tragedy struck later that year when she developed water on the brain. She was admitted to the Children’s Hospital on Glamis Road but sadly died on 12^th December. Tragedy struck again 5 years later when her father contracted bronchitis. He died on 19^th April 1888. Charlotte was just seven years old by the time this had happened.

Family tree showing parents and offspring

Charlotte’s mother, Kate, did not remain a widow for long and in summer 1889 she married George Alender. In 1891 they were still living in poverty at 10 London Street. Charlotte’s new stepfather was working as a coal porter, probably in nearby Limehouse Basin, which was where coal was transferred from the ships to barges for distribution on the canal network. Charlotte’s mum was a “charwoman”, a term meaning a cleaner. They all lived together in a single room. The two other rooms in the house were occupied by other families bringing the total number of people living at the address to 12. Life must have been hard, but one compensation was the sense of community that people shared in the East End. The family moved to 14 London Street and remained at that address for some years which suggests that George had given the family some stability.

As Charlotte grew up she would have seen the construction of Tower Bridge which opened in 1894. She would have also experienced slum clearances. Charles Booth’s survey of London Street in 1898/99 describes three houses below the Working Girls Institute being “shut” and two more being “half down“(being demolished).

At the age of 19 or 20 Charlotte met a local man called Bob, who worked as a clerk for a shipping company. The relationship developed and she became pregnant. Charlotte married John Robert Melton on 14^th October 1900 at St Paul’s Church in Shadwell. The church was on Shadwell High Street and overlooked the docks. It still stands to this day and it can be seen from The Highway and Shadwell Basin. At the time of the wedding, Charlotte was living at 442 Cable Street. In spite of the massive changes in the East End, this house is also still there.

Photo of 442 Cable Street taken in 2008

Four months after the wedding, Charlotte gave birth to a son whom they named Robert George Melton. By this time they were living at 29 Belgrave Street, Stepney; a property they shared with another couple and the landlady. This was an improvement from the slums she inhabited during her childhood. Bob was working as a commercial clerk and the money he earned was already helping to improve their standard of living.

Over the next few years Charlotte gave birth to more children and the family steadily grew. William Stanley Melton was born on 29^th October 1902 and on 15^th January 1905 they had a daughter named Winnifred Edith Lily Melton. Between the years of 1905 and 1908 they moved out of the East End altogether and settled in Essex. This is an indication of Bob and Charlotte’s increasing prosperity. They moved into 59 Saxon Road and their family continued to grow. On 4^th December 1907 Edith Dorothy Florence Melton was born and on 19^th March 1910 their third son, Bernard Charles Melton arrived. More births followed with Kathleen Agnes born on 20^th July 1914 and Arthur Sidney the following year.

War with Germany broke out in August 1914. As a 35 year old family man, Charlotte’s husband would not have been compelled to volunteer for the army. However, in 1916, the government was forced to call up older and married men for active service. After a period of training, Bob was sent to the Western Front in August 1917. This must have been a worrying time for Charlotte, as she would have been made aware of dangers her husband was about to face after three years of news coverage about the war. She also had to manage financially and look after their children.

In March 1918, Charlotte would have been notified that her husband was ill and had been invalided back to England. He had been taken to the Birmingham war hospital and is likely to have made the journey up from London at least once during his three month stay in hospital. After Bob was discharged, he was sent to Shoreham camp for training. He must have been given leave during this period. In October 1918, with Germany nearing defeat, he was given a post in the Army Pay Corps rather than being sent back to the front. This must have been an enormous relief for Charlotte. The war ended in November 1918 and there was much celebration. By this time, Charlotte was four months pregnant.

Charlotte gave birth to Alan Douglas Melton on 19^th April 1919 at 59 Saxon Road, Ilford. Less than two years later, in the early months of 1921, Charlotte and Bob’s last son, Kenneth Melton, was born.

Charlotte and her family continued to live in Saxon Road until the early 1930s. They then moved to 136 Stratton Drive in Barking. This house was brand new and was a typical 1930s semi with three bedrooms, a bathroom, lounge, kitchen and dining room. A real luxury compared with the slums of her childhood. It was apparently a time of happiness as they were able to go away on holidays and day trips with the family.

Photo of Charlotte and Bob thought to have been taken in the late 1930s

 The outbreak of the Second World War changed all of this. Charlotte’s sons were called up to fight for their country and this must have been the source of much anxiety for her. Life on the home front was difficult too. From September 1940 to June 1941 London was bombed by the Germans on an almost nightly basis and the period came to be known as the Blitz. From 1944 there was a new threat posed by the German’s new reprisal weapons. The V1 and V2 rockets were launched from the Low Countries which resulted in a disproportionately large number of them falling over the Essex and Kent suburbs of London. Thankfully Charlotte and Bob managed to get through the war years unscathed.

After the war, with Bob having retired from his position as divisional office manager at the shipping company, their life became more relaxed. They had 12 more years together and during this time they saw their children have children of their own and they spent a lot of time with their extended family. Their son, Arthur, and his wife Win, lived in nearby Dereham Road with their two daughters Janet and Jill. Charlotte’s brother in law, Albert, lived in nearby Halsham Crescent with his wife Henrietta and their children Joan, Iris and Pamela. By all accounts Charlotte was a very amusing lady and used to make everybody laugh.

Her husband’s death from stomach cancer in 1957 must have been an upsetting time for her, but with such a large family Charlotte was never going to be lonely. Charlotte or “Old Love” as she was sometimes known, was an entertaining addition to any family occasion. There is a story that one Christmas my great uncle Bill once placed a whoopee cushion under her chair and she roared with laughter.

Photo of "Old Love" with my grandad (Alan Melton) taken at Christmas time around  great Uncle Bill's (William Hewitt) house in the late 1960s. Seated the background is Asuncion Garcia Visiedo (known as Chon) the wife of  John Hewitt (son of Herbert John Hewitt). My mum (Theresa Melton nee Hand) is dancing flamenco style in front of the mantelpiece (probably after a few babychams)

Sadly as Charlotte grew older, she started suffering from senile dementia and was placed in a nursing home. She passed away on 28^th December 1970 at Dagenham Hospital aged 90 years.

Charlotte lived through a period of massive change, not just in her own life but in the wider world. Charlotte (and Bob) came from very humble beginnings in London’s East End and through hard work and sheer determination managed to bring the Melton family into relative prosperity from which future generations, like my own, could derive benefit. She is remembered fondly by older members of the family and it is clear that her legendary sense of humour saw her through some very tough times. She definitely seemed larger than life!